A while back I wrote about how much money it was possible to save by taking public transportation. Since that time, I have discovered that there are a quite a few varying alternatives for student bus passes across the nation. The example I used of the pass in Winnipeg turned out to be close to average, so that’s good as far as the comparison proceeded to go; however, upon checking out the various options across Canada I thought it might be interesting to make note of the differences.
Possibly the most debatable issue of student bus passes in Canada is the capability of a majority of students on some campuses to make the passes mandatory. Universities which includes the University of Ottawa, the University of Victoria, Saint Mary’s University, and the University of Western Ontario have organized student referendums where students elected to include bus passes together with their overall tuition and student user fees. At Ottawa this contributed to a law suit by 9 students against the University given that they felt discriminated against.
Obviously this dilemma has some positives and disadvantages. The very low cost of public transportation for many who use it is an undeniable bonus. On those campuses the cost was reduced to close to a 100 dollars flat for the year! This is probably because of the inflated volume of sales. The fact that students are compelled to get passes would also improve the overall usage rates. This has wonderful spin-off environmental effects, as well as the aforementioned financial ones.
Myself personally, the disadvantages are a lot more prevalent to me. During my time at the University of Manitoba we had a referendum on whether to put together a required package for public transportation to be supported by all students. I just simply cannot get past the fact that it shouldn’t be considered realistic for a minor majority of students to trample the rights of a massive minority and take money out of their pockets to subsidize their preferred form of transportation. If I remember correctly, there was presently a percentage of the money used from parking service fees to help offset student bus pass costs. This is still a hard sell for me despite the environmental benefits. Of course as a car owner I am definitely bias.
My personal distaste for particular aspects of public transportation is probably a result of the Winnipeg pubic transit system. No matter how much money I was saving I couldn’t justify the consistent waste of time. The schedules were never correct, the constant rudeness of travellers, and the horrible weather aspect of life in Winnipeg, was enough to motivate me to get my own car.
In the instance that I had went to school in British Columbia I may have a very different perspective of student bus passes. After a comment from a local pertaining to her public transportation experience, I looked into the Vancouver area possible choices. I was impressed by the wonderful deal they got and the fact it was not subsidized by other students (this means it doesn’t penalize the students that walk, bike, or drive to school). The U-Pass (universal pass) is available to post-secondary students for the low price of $30 per month. The really great part of the deal is that this doesn’t just cover the bus, but the Seabus and SkyTrain services as well! With such a thorough variety of options I would assume there is quite a bit of success with the program presently there.
In comparison, Winnipeg charges over $70 monthly for its substandard patchwork of buses. Other monthly public transportation rates for students include $89 for a metro pass in Toronto, $41 in Montreal for a merged metro and bus pass, $71 for a student bus pass in Saskatoon, and Calgary didn’t even have a student rate from the information I have been able to see on their site. The basic adult rate there for a month-to-month bus pass is $90.
One more thing for people (not just students) who use bus passes should be advised of is the non-refundable tax credit available. For some people you can get a pretty good idea of how much money you should receive on your taxes by multiplying the yearly fee of your bus passes by .15 (15%). This is a nice little reward incentive for those of you who are already financially and environmentally sensitive enough to use public transportation.
Having a student bus pass is a popular approach to saving money when attending school. Student public transportation is essential to any university that is thinking make a subsidised program to their students.
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